Canadian fatally shot in Belize: 'The children, they saw everything'

For the second time in less than six months, a Canadian has been slain in Belize.

Gabriel Bochnia, 38, formerly of Toronto, was shot and killed outside his home in the Chula Vista area of Corozol late Wednesday.

In April, Francesca Matus, 52, of Keswick, and her American boyfriend were discovered strangled in a sugarcane field about to be set ablaze.

Bochnia’s sister Kate told the Toronto Sun Friday as she boarded a plane to Belize that her family is “devastated” by the tragedy.

“He was a devoted father, a beloved son, brother, and uncle,” Kate said. “He was known for his big heart: Always willing to assist those in need. His impact will be felt across several communities where he actively helped shape a positive environment.

“His loss is a horrific blow to our family and friends and we are devastated by it.”

Cops say the construction consultant, his wife and three young children had just returned home from dropping his parents off to get a bus to Cancun for a flight home to Canada.

“I heard a noise, so ... I opened my window to see what’s happening, because like how there was thunder and raining, I just opened to see what happened and then I see this guy dropping on the floor,” a neighbour told Channel 7.

The man said that the triggerman then turned the gun on Bochnia’s wife, Jeshanah, but miraculously it misfired.

The gunman then fled, leaving the mortally wounded man’s wife screaming in terror.

Witnessing the nightmare were Bochnia’s three young children.

“This little boy, his son, came down from the truck to see his dad,” the neighbour said, adding they were trying to get Bochnia in a vehicle and take him to a hospital.

“He was saying, ‘they shoot dad,’ and I just tried to put him back in the pickup so we could go because we can’t leave the kids,” the man added. “The children, they saw everything.”

Bochnia died later in hospital.

Cops believe the gunman was waiting for him and that the Canadian man was targeted. It’s believed he knew his killer, who local media reports say is a former employee known as Polo who’d just been released from prison.

Bochnia had been living in Belize for nearly a decade and had no known enemies, neighbours told Channel 5. It’s believed the suspected triggerman is in custody along with an American national.

“This guy was not a bad guy. He was a good guy. Gabriel was like a happy man,” the neighbour said of the victim. “He didn’t have any problems. Well we know him like that and he was a nice person with us. Anything you need, anything you ask him for a favour, he will never say no, and he was a kind man even with the animals, he was a kind man.”

Detectives recovered two 9-mm shells from the crime scene.

Meanwhile, the investigation into who murdered real estate speculator Matus remains ice cold, with friends fearing there may never be a resolution.

In 2013, another Canadian, Patricia Lynn Nichiporowich, was stabbed to death in Belize.